Origin of gods article

[Wes4747]

So... Found this interesting and wanted to share it with UM.

What isnt stated in this wicked article, and consequently what i would like to discuss here, is how many of our religions have such humbling beginnings and how savage might certain mainstream religions look from a little higher on the mountain. Mr. Swancer, take it away!

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2017/08/the-strange-cargo-cults-of-the-south-pacific/

Edited August 10, 2017 by Wes4747
ha

[eight bits]

It is unclear that the cargo cults help much with the origin of religion within the species. They are modern and their content is largely derivative of missionary Christianity. The more picturesque cults (the ones who build model airplanes, etc.) are obviously influenced by an already existing exotic culture, a modern industrialized one.

It is also unclear just what we are looking at when see a really cargo-oriented cargo cult. Religion? Sympathetic magic? Alternatively, it is a fact of the human cognitive apparatus that acting out a story is an actual aid to understanding experience. We may be looking at a theatrical form of memory and thought.

Finally, and I don't for a minute accuse you or the author of racism, nor do I wish to go all lefty on you, BUT ...

Here are brown-skinned people faithfully re-enacting something that actually occurred in their history, and the invited reaction is "Oh look at the primitive people, isn't it just so cute that they are clueless." But where I live, mostly white people (that is, only a very few of the Asians, Native Americans or Blacks who live hereabouts participate) periodically dress up in Revolutionary or Civil War uniforms to re-enact battles.They spend a lot of money on this hobby, and invest time and effort to "get it right," down to making sure that the buttons on their uniform match their belt buckles.

Why are dark-skinned people some kind of window into the human past, but these white folk doing the same thing not so much? I'm not trying to make trouble, but really.

[Wes4747]

Huh.. They were brown..

[NChSh]

Great article! I think the best explanation for religion is something like what was offered in The Sacred Mushroom And The Cross or Graham Hancock's Supernatural (which is just of wider expansion of the same phenomena).  

[Dark_Grey]

On 8/10/2017 at 1:37 AM, eight bits said:

Why are dark-skinned people some kind of window into the human past, but these white folk doing the same thing not so much? I'm not trying to make trouble, but really.

Because the "white folk" understand the context. They know they are being silly in dressing up like historical soldiers. The dark-skinned people worshiped the air force pilots and planes because they actually believed they were gods. Living in the jungle since birth, they don't have a lot of modern technology for reference. In short, the white folk understand fully what they are doing and why, while the dark-skinned people are reacting to something they can't comprehend. I see why you would make that comparison but it's not really a fair one. Hope that helps

 

 

[eight bits]

Quote

Because the "white folk" understand the context. They know they are being silly in dressing up like historical soldiers

They are not being "silly" in the least. Many Americans think their past is important, that it defines in part who we are as a nation and as a people. I'm one of those Americans, by the way. I happen not to do this specific thing, but I recognize that somebody placing themselves vividly in the circumstances of their predecessors (and in many cases, their ancestors) is an act of reverent remembrance.

What I objected to in my earlier post was not the practice of re-enactment, but the assumption that dark-skinned people are not doing something parallel to what the white folk are doing, when they are both doing the same overt acts. I also objected to the reason for that assumption. You found a nice way to say it: that the darker skinned re-enactors supposedly misunderstand the "context."

I have no criticism of either group for their behavior. I have not the slightest reason to think that either group misunderstands the "context" of anything.

Here's the website of one of the more famous New England remembrance groups. There's contact information so you can tell them all about how silly they are. Your rap is wasted on me.

http://www.ahac.us.com/dev/

Hope that helps.

Edited August 11, 2017 by eight bits